Applying this counterintuitive concept will make you a better shooter

Some of the greatest shooters of our erawhen asked to describe their deployment motion, say some variation of the following: “I try to create a living head.”

To the average gamer, this may sound confusing. But let’s dive a little deeper to understand why they’re describing what they do that way, and answer a more important question: How can we apply this to our short game?

A “living” solid head mimics an object we would see moving elsewhere in everyday life. Think of it as a pendulum, and think of the other versions of pendulums we see in everyday life, from the grandfather clock to the swinging playground to the wrecking ball. In each example, the energy and tempo on both sides of the movement are the same. One side is not faster than the other. A true pendulum has a back and forth swing of equal length.

It is also important to understand where a pendulum reaches its greatest speed. Contrary to what I might have assumed, it is NO at the end of the arc. The greatest acceleration occurs during the initial descent, as gravity begins to act on it. This is what allows the movement to remain balanced and equal on both sides.

So how does this apply to hitting the golf ball long setting in motion? The difference is that the ball presents a break and resistance at the bottom of the pendulum at the moment of impact. Because the energy of the pendulum is equal on both sides, hitting the ball at the bottom changes it appearance of movement. The stroke will appear longer going behind and shorter going through.

From a technical standpoint, learning to make a longer backswing with a shorter follow-through is the first step toward creating a more “lively” cheater. This idea challenges many of the traditional guidelines that many golfers have heard for years. “Speed ​​it up!” has long been a staple of advice giving. But this suggestion promotes a liveliness treatnot a liveliness stubborn.

Remember, the fastest point of a swing is during its initial descent, not at the bottom and not after the ball.

When golfers first try longer backswings, they often hit the targets too hard. This is usually because they are still holding on to the “speed through” mentality. What we want is a living shooting head, not a living handle. To achieve this (and avoid hitting too far) we need to do something that feels counter-intuitive: we need to feel like we’re slowing down the handle when the downswing begins. yes, slowing down the glove.

From a physics point of view, when one end of an object slows down, the other end speeds up. That’s exactly what we’re trying to create: a faster, cheaper pole without excessive force.

If we accelerate the handle during the landing, we actually slow down the thrust. This produces a true slowing blow – the opposite of a living attack.

To make this deliberate deceleration of the grip more achievable, the backswing must be faster than most golfers are used to. The old instruction to take it “low and slow” tends to encourage drag on the handle rather than creating a true pendulum swing.

A longer and faster return is essential to produce a lively head. It naturally encourages the grip to slow down on the downswing, allowing the putter’s head to swing freely and deliver energy efficiently without sending the ball too far.

This approach also requires a different mindset around distance control. With a live shooting head, distance is determined on the backstroke, not the forward stroke. The farther you want to hit the putt, the longer and faster the backswing needs to be to maintain adequate energy for the downstroke.

Many golfers try to use the same short backswing for almost every putt and then adjust the distance by hitting harder on the downswing. This usually results in short backswings and long forward steps, which is the opposite of what elite players do.

The best putters with live heads allow the length and speed of the backswing to vary. Counterintuitively, a backswing that feels longer and faster—perhaps even a little out of control—often produces greater control overall.

A final benefit of creating a live head is how much easier it becomes to score the face on the shot. Shaking your head, rather than manipulating or controlling it, makes it much easier to square your face time and time again.

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